Spiritual Affairs

[Lucki]

 The Spiritual Affairs Committee

-- SA, for short -- is a multi-faith group (including people of no particular faith) dedicated to promoting the spiritual wellbeing and growth of all members of Occupy Chicago. Everyone attracted to our common goal is welcome to join us. We encompass two areas of activity: outreach and inreach.

Outreach

Each SAer strives to build bridges between OC and their individual community of faith.

In addition, some SAers are especially dedicated to reaching out to other communities of faith in the Chicago area. We hope that clergy-to-clergy contact in particular will contribute to OC's growth and diversity.

Inreach

Other SAers are especially dedicated to direct service to Occupiers.

Spiritual Circles

For example, SAers are encouraged to plan, to facilitate, and/or to support each other's faith-based activities. Such "spiritual circles" to date include:

• Baha'i Holy Day celebration
• Buddhist meditation group (weekly, Tuesday, 4:30 PM, at HQ)
• Christian celebration of the Eucharist (hopefully monthly on Sunday afternoon)
• Jewish Shabbat service (hopefully monthly on Friday evening).

We hope that members will come forth and expand the diversity of spiritual circles to include more traditions such as Hindu, Muslim, Native American, Wiccan, and other spiritual practices.

Sacred Space

We also hope, when OC does establish a "home", to create a sacred space that provides everyone with a peaceful and private environment conducive to their communing with God as they perceive Her/Him/It.

12-Step Meetings

Additionally, we are working to establish an OC 12-Step group open to all people addicted to substances, people addicted to behaviors, people addicted to addicts, and other concerned persons.

OC Chaplaincy

Finally, the OC Chaplaincy (not the same thing as the Protest Chaplains in general) will be the ordained clergy and other chaplains formally appointed by their communities of faith to be available to serve the spiritual needs of any OC individual who requests it of them. This means they will intentionally remain able to exercise such clerical rights as serving as a spiritual advisor able to visit arrestees in prison.

We envision making the OC Chaplains identifiable to everyone by the use of matching simple white stoles with black silhouettes of the basic symbol of their faith, such as:

• Baha'i - 9-pointed star
• Buddhist - 8-spoked wheel
• Christian - Upright cross
• Hindu - Sanscrit OM
• Jewish - 6-pointed star
• Muslim - Star and crescent
• Native American - 4-pointed compass
• Wiccan - 5-pointed star

There is no requirement to belong to the faith community of an OC Chaplain -- or, for that matter, to any faith community at all -- in order to request spiritual assistance from her or him.

If YOU have questions, comments, or new ideas, please share them with us. Thank you.

posted Sat, Nov 19, 2011

[j.jeck]

Hi All,
My name is Jenny, I just joined the SA committee tonight. I am Roman Catholic, and have a BA in religious studies and a certificate in Pastoral Ministry. I have taught high school religion, facilitated week long service retreats for high school and college students in Doddridge County West Virginia, worked at the White Violet Center for Eco-Justice near Terre Haute, IN, and have been active in many parish communities.

I would like to start leading Taize prayer services for Occupy Chicago. Taize Prayer is an eccumenical form of prayer that was started in Taize, France during WWII as a safe place for refugees. In addition to providing shelter and food, they organized study groups and regular communal prayer for peace and reconciliation in our hearts, communities, and the world.

I have experience facilitating these style of prayer services. They can be elaborate or simple. They usually consist of singing several simple short meditative ostinato songs, a reading from a scripture, a good period for silent meditation, a sharing of intentions, and passing of the sign of peace.

I would like to host these services on Sunday afternoons. If you have ideas for other times that might work better or ideas about a gathering space for the winter months please let me know. I can provide all of the needed materials. If anyone plays an instrument - guitar, flute, violin, clarinet, piano, etc and would like to provide some instrumental accompaniment that would be great, but not necessary. Similarly, if anyone would like to help lead the singing and other parts of the service please let me know.

Peace and all good,
Jenny Jeck

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